unitardzfandomcom-20200214-history
Rise (Written Series)
''Rise ''is a post-apocalyptic, zombie horror-drama based on the "Deathly, Sickly, Dead" series and completely written by Zachary Serra, that premiered on December 8, 2018 exclusively on Facebook. The series is solely written and overlooked by owner of UZ Media, Zachary Serra. The first season debuted on the Facebook platform on December 8, 2018 and was released every Saturday at 5:00pm EST. On January 4, 2019; Serra confirmed that the series had been renewed for a second season, set to debut on June 8, 2019. On May 6, 2019; the first season of the series was released in full on Wattpad. The second season of the series concluded on July 27, 2019. In March 2019, Serra announced that he was beginning to write a third season for the series, but made it clear that the series had not been clearly renewed or canceled past the second season, and the writing progress was simply in preparation of a possible renewal. On April 27, 2019; Ollie Welsh, who would be working with Serra on the final episodes of the second season, as well as episodes in the third season, confirmed over Facebook that the series was confirmed to be renewed for a third season. However; on July 30, 2019; Serra announced his intentions to leave UZ Media, but confirmed that he was in the middle of legal hearings and negotiations with the company to retain rights to the shows, series, and projects he ran and operated himself, as well as projects that he owned the full intellectual rights to. Negotiations between Serra and UZ Media were perceived as civil until UZ Media Executive Vice President Gwenethe Billups announced that Rise was going into an indefinite hiatus, effectively cancelling the series and it's production temporarily. Premise Originally set in Connecticut, the series follows separate main groups all interconnected in some way. John Callis and his wife Jessica, along with their daughter Amy are the first characters introduced in the pilot episode, with Jessica's sister Meghan Chapel and Connecticut Gubernatorial Candidate Emilio Vasquez, as well as the members of their group introduced in the proceeding scenes. Going on their different paths with different points of interest in mind, all groups must survive in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-like monster filled world while placing the pieces together to figure out why the world started to devolve. Characters Season One (2018-2019) Main Characters * John Callis * Jessica Callis * Emilio Vasquez * Franklin Carter * William "Bill" Taylor * Alicia Haven * Meghan Chapel * Katie Dawson * Troy Austin Recurring Characters * Lauren Salcedo * Janice Garnett * Jack O'Rourke * Tyler Dallmer * Reggie Harbaugh * Shauna King Guest Characters * Charlotte Walters * The Man * Amy Callis * Tyler Garnett * Salem Ailwood * Heather Daves * Cameron Wilkes * Dalton Dallmer Season 2 (2019) Main Characters * John Callis * Jessica Callis * Alicia Haven * Franklin Carter * Salem Ailwood * Lauren Salcedo * Tori Ashley * Emilio Vasquez * William "Bill" Taylor * Janice Garnett * Charlotte Walters Recurring Characters * Jack O'Rourke * Reggie Harbaugh * Shauna King * Tyler Dallmer * The Man * Amy Callis * Tyler Garnett Episodes Season One (December 2018-January 2019) Season Two (June-July 2019) Production In early 2016, Serra and co-writers Ollie Welsh, Christian Knight and Kevin Matha began writing "Deathly, Sickly, Dead" as a post-apocalyptic mini-series exclusively for the UZ Media website (then known as the UnitardZ Productions website) for later in the year. In late 2016, the first edition of "Deathly, Sickly, Dead" was released to small praise. The edition consisted of four paragraphs, and read like a short story spanning multiple editions. The following three editions were then released over the following four months, and a final edition was released in early 2017 before the series was ended. After the five-edition mini-series, Serra took almost two years off of writing any stories or series before beginning to write for a new post-apocalyptic series later named "Rise". Co-writers of Deathly, Sickly, Dead; Kevin Matha and Christian Knight, began working on production series during this time, and Ollie Welsh was in an executive role at UZ Media. Serra began working exclusively, and solely on the story during the middle of 2018. Whilst Knight and Matha were beginning production on other projects, they were credited with helping Serra develop the premise of Rise, whilst Serra remained the only factor in the series' writing and script. Welsh would not be involved with Rise until the conclusion of the series' second season, in which he began working with Serra to write the final two episodes of the season, which have yet to be released as of March 2019, as the series is currently slated to return in June of this year with the aforementioned second season. The first episode of "Rise" was released on December 8, 2018 to critical acclaim from long-time readers of other UZ Media series exclusives "Tallboy" and "TaxiCab". The first episode was the first of two parts of the beginning of the series, and the following weeks episode, labeled "Day Zero - Part Two" (after the series premiere "Day Zero - Part One") received even more views than the series premiere. By the first season's fifth episode, named "Remnants of the Same", viewer ship dropped, and the series maintained the current views of the fifth episode throughout the seventh. The eighth-episode, season one finale of Rise, named "King of the Clouds" saw an increase of views, and the series began it's off-season before being planned to return five months later for season two, which will feature Welsh credited in the final two episodes. On March 23, 2019; Serra announced that he was beginning work on the series' third season, despite the series not officially being renewed for it, nor having a third season currently discussed. Serra would state soon afterwards that the process of beginning the script for the third season was only in preparation for the possibility of the series returning for season three. On April 27, 2019; Welsh announced that the series was set to be renewed for season three, with the announcement coming from UZ Media, confirming season three the following day. On July 25, 2019; Serra was revealed to be in talks with UZ Media Chief Operating Officer Nolan Scott, UZ Media Chief Executive Officer Ollie Welsh, and UZ Media Executive Vice President Gwenethe Billups about legal restrictions on pieces of property Serra owned intellectually and financially, which included Rise as a series. Original rumors indicated that Serra was amidst negotiations with UZ Media to leave the company to found a new startup, and take with him the properties he helped create or solely finance. Rise is partially owned by both parties, Serra owns rights to the series intellectually, and the properties belong to UZ Media. If Serra is given full authority over his intellectual properties without the presence of UZ Media, Rise will be amongst the things included in the deal. Serra announced in a forum post on July 30, 2019 that he was planning on leaving UZ Media, citing a difference in focus between UZ Media and himself as the reason for his desired departure. Release In late 2018, Serra announced the inception of "Rise", a series made to play out in the same universe as the Deathly, Sickly, Dead series. The release date was officially scheduled for December 8, 2018, and the series was to be exclusively released through the series' official page on Facebook. During the middle of the series' first season, Serra announced that the series would also begin release on UZ Media's website, as well as the story-sharing website Wattpad some time after the conclusion of each season, to ensure that Facebook was the only source to read the new episodes of the series in a weekly format. On December 8, 2018; the pilot episode titled, "Day Zero - Part One" was released on Facebook, and the following seven episodes would be released on Facebook each week until the season one finale on January 26, 2019. On the same day as the season one finale of Rise, series creator Zachary Serra confirmed that the series had been picked up for a second season, and confirmed the titles and release dates for all eight episodes of season two, which were to start being released every Saturday at 5pm EST starting on June 8, 2019, maintaining the original release day and time as the series' season one run. The second season of the series began on June 8, 2019, with the season concluding on July 27, 2019. On March 23, 2019; over a full two months before the premiere of season two, Serra confirmed that he had begun writing for the series' third season. One month later, Serra began confirming speculation that Season Three was given a soft-confirmation ahead of the second season's release. On April 30, 2019; whilst Serra was wrestling for USW' Call To Greatness XIV: Chicago event, UZ Media Chief Executive Officer Ollie Welsh confirmed that UZ Media had renewed the series for a third season. On July 30, 2019; Serra confirmed that he was in the middle of negotiations with UZ Media to leave the company, but retain properties that he owned and organized intellectually, which included Rise. The future of the series was then put in jeopardy as later in the same day, UZ Media Executive Vice President Gwenethe Billups announced that the series was going to be placed into an indefinite hiatus, effectively ending all production on the third season of the series as legal meetings began.